Somersaulting figure toy



Ap 14, 1953 R. c. oLsoN SOMERSAULTING FIGURE TOY Filed April 4. 1950 INVENTOR Roy OLSON.

BY v

Patented Apr. 14, 1953 iran vSTATES PTENT OFFICE.

10 Claims. l

This invention relates to toys comprising a base, a figure on and in operative association with said base and means for causing such figure to somersault.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a simple and highly eiective toy which is provided with a figure representing a clown, cowboy or the like and which is caused to execute one or more somersaults.

Another object of the invention resides in a toy having a hollow, boXlilre base within which a spring mechanism is mounted in a normally inactive condition, a toy figure is mounted in operative association with such mechanism and means is provided for actuating said mechanism to cause said figure to execute one or `more somersaults.

A further object of the invention resides in an arrangement such that the somersaulting toy gure is so constructed that it will land upon its feet.

Other and further objects and advantages will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the toy art or will be apparent or pointed out hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevational View, partly in section, showing a toy constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the base of the toy of Fig. 1 without the toy ligure and Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring rst to Figs. 1 and 2, my new toy comprises a boxlike base I having a bottom I I, a top I2 and side and end members, one such end member being indicated by the numeral I3 and the other being indicated by the numeral I4.

The end member I3 is provided with a recess I5 in which a strong heli-cal spring I6 is mounted and secured and one end of such spring I6 has a rod-like extension I'I unitary therewith which terminates in an angularly disposed loop I8 which is normally hooked under a button or other knoblike projection I9 which is imbedded in and secured to the other end member I4. Thus, the rod-like extension I'I extends substantially the entire length of the chamber formed within the base I0 by the side and end members referred to above, it being understood that the side members are strips of the same material and secured to the end and bottom members to complete the enclosure.

The top I2 of the base I0 is provided with a keyhole-like slot therethrough which is made up of the elongated rectangular portion 2l and theenlarged rounded portion 22. The position of the slot is'shown clearly in Fig; 2 and is such that, when the rod-like extension I I and the loop IB of the spring IE are released (in the manner hereinafter explained), they project suddenly up through the slot.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the somersaulting figure is in the form of a clown comprising a central rod 23 which passes through and is slidably disposed with respect to a disc 24 which is of a size to fit within the round portion 22 of the slot in top I2. Feet 25 or other elements are secured to the upper'surface of disc 213 by nails, glue or the like and a weak helical spring 26 surrounds and is secured to the rod 23 just above disc 24. The clown figure is madeof suitable stuffing enclosed within a garment 2l and a wooden ball 28 is mounted on said rod near the top thereof and ornamented to represent a clown face. The upper end of rod 23 is provided with a hat-like anvil portion 29 which is adapted to be struck by the hammer 30 shown thereabove in spaced relation and which is manually actuated as illustrated. The lower end of rod 23 terminates in close juxtaposition to but just slightly above the bight formed between the loop I8 and the projection I9 so that, when the hammer 3D is struck downwardly against the anvil 29, the rod 23 is forced downwardly sufliciently to dislodge the loop I8 from under pro.-Y

jection I9 causing it to fly upwardly in a sudden manner with considerable force, thereby projecting the clown into the air. Due to the'con.-

struction of the clown, his clothing, etc., theclown executes one or more somersaults before landing. By weighting the feet or other similar portion of the clown, he can be caused to land upon his feet. A pin or other member 3I passes transversely through the rod just below disc 24 thereby maintaining assembly and the spring 26 becomes compressed when rod 23 is forced downwardly, thereby enabling the rod to descend sumciently to cause actuation of the spring as aforesaid.

The form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 3

is essentially the same as that already described, as will be appreciated by the use of the same numerals thereon, but in Fig. 3 the figure of the horse 32 is so mounted that his front feet are spread and hinged to the top I2 by means of one or more hinges 33. The hind feet of the gure of the horse, or either one of them, are arranged so that they normally rest overv a hole 34 in the top I 2 and have extending. `downiifardly therefrom a rod 35 similar to rod 23 above described. The cowboy or other gure 36 is loosely mounted on the back of the horse and is preferably provided with weighted shoes or feet 31 so that, when the hind quarters of the horse are struck with the hammer 30, the rear end of the horse will be thrown upwardly pivoting about hinges 33 and the rider will be thrown off to execute one or more somersaults before landing. By providing Weighted shoes or feet, this iigure can be caused to land in an upright position. In this form of the invention, the top I 2 of the base need not be slotted in the same manner as shown in Fig. 2 but, if desired, the same top could be used since the horses front feetare spread to avoid the slot portion 2l and the hind feet can be attached to a disc similar to that mentioned above at 24.

The foregoing is intended as illustrative and not as limitative since other and further modications may be made without departing from the spirit or principle of the invention, which is rather dened by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A toy comprising a boxlike base, a springy, rod-like member extending longitudinally within said base one end of which member is resiliently mounted in one end of said base and the distal end of which is releasably latched at the other end of said base, the springy, rod-like member being normally urged to an angularly upward position about its resiliently mounted end and being adapted to be unlatched with respect to its releasably latched distal end by downward movement thereof, a toy gure having a rod terminating just above said distal member end and means for exerting asudden downward thrust against said rod to cause it to strike said distal member end and to eiect unlatching of the same` whereupon the toy figure is projected into the air.

2. A toy constructed as defined in claim 1, in which said resiliently mounted member in-cludes a helical spring portion embedded in one end wall of said boxlike base and a loop-like member constituting the distal end and hooked under a projection xedly secured in the opposite end wall of said boxlike base.

3. A toy constructed as defined in claim 1, in which said boxlike base includes a bottom, sides, end walls and a top, said top having a generally keyhole-shaped slot therethrough located superjacent said resiliently mounted member and its distal end, the enlarged portion of said keyholeshaped slot forming a seat for said toy iigure.

4. A toy constructed as defined in claim 1, in which said boxlike base includes a bottom, sides, end Walls and a top, said top having a generally keyhole-shaped slot therethrough located superjacent said resilient member and its distal end, said toy figure having a disc-like base portion disposed in the enlarged end of said keyholeshaped slot.

5. A toy constructed as defined in claim 1, in which said boxlike base includes a bottom, sides, end walls and a top, said top having a generally keyhole-shaped slot therethrough located superjacent said resilient member and its distal end, said toy figure having a disc-like base portion disposed in the enlarged end of said keyhole-shaped slot and having a central slidably disposed rod terminating at its upper end in an anvil portion and having a relatively Weak upwardly urged helical spring secured to and encircling said rod and resting upon said disc.

6. A base for a toy of the character described,

comprising a hollow box having a bottom, sides, end walls and a slotted top, one of said end walls being recessed and having a relatively strong upwardly urged helical spring embedded therein, said helical spring having a rod-like extension disposed longitudinally within said base and terminating in an angled loop and the opposite end wall being provided with a xed projection under which said loop is normally hooked, said loop being adapted to be displaced from under said iixed projection whereupon said extension lexes upwardly through the slotted top of said base for projecting a toy gure upwardly.

'7. A toy comprising a boxlike base, an upwardly urged resilient member secured at one end in said base and having its distal end releasably latched, a toy figure having a depending rod slidable therewithin and terminating closely above the distal end of said resilient member and means for exerting a downward thrust against said rod to unlatch the distal end of said resilient member for projecting the gure upwardly.

8. A toy comprising a boxlike base, an upwardly urged resilient member secured at one end in said base and having its distal end releasably latched within said base, a toy gure disposed over said distal end and having a slidably disposed rod extending therethrough and terminating closely adjacent the said distal end and means for exerting a downward thrust against said rod to disengage the distal end of said resilient member, said toy gure being the representation of a clown having a weighted portion adjacent its lower end so that the toy figure will land in an upright position.

9. A toy comprising a boxlike base, an upwardly urged resilient member secured at one end in said base and having its distal end releasably latched within said base, a toy gure over said member having a rod therein terminating just above the distal end of said resilient member and means for exerting a downward thrust against said rod to disengage the distal end of said resilient member, said toy figure being the representation of a horse having a rider freely mounted thereon and said horse having at least one front hoof hingedly connected to the top of said boxlike base, whereby said horse is adapted to execute a bucking movement to throw the rider into the air.

l0. A toy comprising a boxlike base, an upwardly urged resilient member secured at one end in said base and having its distal end releasably latched within said base, a toy figure over said member having a rod therein terminating just above the distal end of said resilient member and means for exerting a downward thrust against said rod to' disengage the distal end of said resilient member, said toy gure being the representation of a horse having a rider freely mounted thereon and said horse having at least one front hoof hingedly connected to the top of said boxlike base, whereby said horse is adapted to execute a bucking movement to throw the rider into the air, said rider having weighted feet so as to ensure landing in a standing position.

ROY C. OLSON.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,186,783 Hill June 13, 1916 2,234,617 Beck et al. Mar. '11, 1941-- 

